Karin's Campster Renovation

[EllPea in CA]

These are awesome and adorable! I know this is off topic, but would very much like to know your process. Do you design the kit and then have it made elsewhere? Or do you physically create each kit yourself? This strikes me as an excellent occupation/hobby for those who think very scientifically and three dimensionally.

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by Ellpea in CA

These are awesome and adorable! I know this is off topic, but would very much like to know your process. Do you design the kit and then have it made elsewhere? Or do you physically create each kit yourself? This strikes me as an excellent occupation/hobby for those who think very scientifically and three dimensionally.

I do every bit of it all by myself, I don't hire anything out, I don't have any employees.

[k corbin]

Today's chore has to do with having procrastinated putting in hold down fittings for my pop up roof section. Good thing I already have the wood trim pieces the hold downs cut to length and varnished. High wind warning with heavy rain for tomorrow but the mother load of the storm won't arrive until Saturday and it has the potential to be a record breaking event with lots of damaging gust, strong winds and coastal flooding from big waves.

No doubt the power will go out so I guess I had better get my batteries charged on the LED lamps and get my Mr. Buddy heater and propane bottles put handy.

Good thing I am sheltered from the wind by my friends much taller and longer travel trailer.

Guess I will get my dog walking job done and get after it then go and fetch my generator in case I need it to keep working.

[EllPea in CA]

Originally Posted by k corbin

I do every bit of it all by myself, I don't hire anything out, I don't have any employees.

MAN. After looking at the diminutive size and incredible detail of these tiny villages, I'm just STUNNED. They are quite beautiful.

[k corbin]

I have not been doing any actual hands on work over this winter but I have done some purchasing of supplies. One of the things on my list of purchases I want to make was fabric for the cushions. So for quite some time I have been keeping an eye on the rack at the local thrift store where they sell pieces of fabric. Today I got lucky and found a good quality upholstery material in a plaid that will do nicely to go with my red pop top and exterior red and black color scheme and wood paneling. Price was a very affordable $4.99 There should be enough material for the cushion covers but if not that is an easy problem to work around. I can always put a different but compatible fabric on the reverse side of the cushions I make for the backrest. It is fun to switch things up now and again . I already have some fabric in a solid color that will work for the curtains to coordinate with this plaid fabric.

Beans, my blue point Siamese, offered to photo bomb to keep the image more entertaining. Actually I bribed him. His paw is lifted to say "please" to get the treat. He is trained for several commands, sit and say please are two of them.

My BFFE, Don, purchased a good quality HVLP sprayer in December. So this spring he is going to finish giving my Campster an exterior paint job. I am really looking forward to seeing the results of that!

I am not sure exactly when I will get started on the cabinet making. I need to have a procedure on my left eye in the near future. Once that has time to heal I can get back to it. Most likely sometime in April when the weather is warmer and hopefully drier too. In the meantime I can make more plans for the interior finishes.

[Bobbie Mayer]

The red plaid will look great!

[k corbin]

This week I am working on finishing up the insulation on the ceiling and will soon be ready to install some headliner. Yesterday I decided to take a field trip to a local shop that specializes in boat and auto upholstery work and they also sell the materials for doing that work. I wanted to check out what options they had for headliner versus what the local fabric stores carry.

So of course I have a variety of choices to choose from. There are fiber types of materials with a foam backing. I already have 3/8" thick closed cell foam installed against the fiberglass so I am not needing a foam lined material. I have thought about the perforated vinyl headliner with a foam backing but that is not a closed cell foam and it can absorb odors as well as mold spores so I won't be choosing that one.

I think the rat fur types are not something I would like to have so those are off the list as well. If my Campster ceiling installation was being done by trying to follow complex curves I would want to use the rat fur type of material as it could conform more easily to those curves. But instead of using large pieces I am going to break up the job into sections of flat planes and gentle curves that are not complex in shape.

So the way I am going to hand my installation of ceiling material means I can choose to use a light weight vinyl. Condensation is not as much of an issue for me as I now have insulation in my Campster and my choice of heater is vented to the outside and removes moisture from the air versus using a non vented propane heater. I like the idea of having an easy to wash surface which is another factor in my choice of vinyl. Of course I might end up regretting my choice but only time will reveal that. In the long run there is no one perfect choice as all have advantages and disadvantages.

I did learn something very important in my discussion of materials with the employee at the store. It is critical that the lightweight vinyl I choose to use as a headliner should have a fuzzy texture on the backside of the vinyl. That texture is needed to keep it securely adhered overhead. It gives the adhesive something to lock into. Without it the vinyl is very likely to fall off the ceiling. I am glad I took this field trip as it is going to prevent that issue in the future.

Well darn, the lightweight marine vinyl at the fabric store without the fuzzy back would be less than half the cost of the stuff I need for the job. However I do have a neighbor here in this industrial building who does auto interiors. I will see if he can get it at a better price for me from his wholesale supply sources. He has offered in the past to help order me some materials at his cost versus my having to pay retail prices.

For those of you who are just reading this do remember that a fuzzy back on the vinyl is important for adhering the vinyl with an adhesive. The recommended adhesive for the job is the regular, old fashioned, kind of contact cement you can purchase at the hardware stores. No need for any exotic types of adhesive. That yellow contact cement is high temp resistant and very strong as well. It is easy to apply to large areas with a paint roller.

[rwilhelm]

Thank you Karen. Much appreciated. My Campster is naked fiberglass so the info is valuable. Will be doing some camping on the coast, so it will be interesting to see if condensation will be a problem

[Dave Fish]

Originally Posted by rwilhelm

Thank you Karen. Much appreciated. My Campster is naked fiberglass so the info is valuable. Will be doing some camping on the coast, so it will be interesting to see if condensation will be a problem

Ours is bare fiberglass on the inside as well. I don't know if some were built that way or if the original interior was removed. It is clean and looks OK, so it stays the way it is for the foreseeable future.

[k corbin]

My Campster still had the original wall covering in it when I purchased it. That wall covering was the non-woven type of indoor outdoor polyolefin carpeting. It is basically a type of felted material with no pile to it. It was the color that is sometimes called gold, a light yellow/brown. You can still buy this type of material in carpet stores. Not a bad choice in some ways, affordable, strong, mold resistant as well as washable. Somewhat conformable to the surfaces. It would prevent condensation from dripping on your head. Standard yellow contact cement is the correct adhesive to install it with.

Here is a photo of that original wall covering inside of the closet in a before photo I tool before ripping it all out. For some reason this photo wants to be rotated to horizontal by this thread. It does not appear that way in the photo editing program. (OK I give up trying to make it flip the right way this will have to do!)

While most of it in the photo looks to be a kind of dirty grey brown color that was an exposed surface that had gotten dirty and moldy too. Remember that my Campster was leaky and spent many years being used as a garden shed so the interior really needed a gut job. If you look right on into the corner area you will see a strip of gold color that was exposed when I removed a piece of wood framing of the closet. That wood piece had protected the carpet so it did not change color.

So now you know what your Campster's used to have in them

[Dave Fish]

Thanks for this info. We haven't used ours enough yet to know if we will have condensation issues. Should we do this, the color will be whatever pleases us since, like yours, ours will never be an authentic restore. Just needs to be functional.

[Bobbie Mayer]

Mine has a black material that resembles Velcro loop (Velcro hooks stick easily to it). No condensation issues on that but the windows do sometimes get condensation if everything is closed up and it is cold outside. I haven't seen another with this material so don't know if it was added by someone some time ago or came that way. (Black wouldn't have been my first choice.) The walls behind the cabinets are not insulated (except where I added Reflectix.)

[rwilhelm]

Thank you Karen

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by Bobbie Mayer

Mine has a black material that resembles Velcro loop (Velcro hooks stick easily to it). No condensation issues on that but the windows do sometimes get condensation if everything is closed up and it is cold outside. I haven't seen another with this material so don't know if it was added by someone some time ago or came that way. (Black wouldn't have been my first choice.) The walls behind the cabinets are not insulated (except where I added Reflectix.)

Bobbie, your stove is gold, your fridge is gold, your sink is gold. For sure your walls were too. The popular colors in the 1970s were gold and avocado. Black walls were something the hippies did during during those early 70 years. I had a girlfriend who painted the walls of her bedroom black in 1970 and then moved a few months later. Can you imagine the look on the apartment manager's face when he went in there?

But your carpet does not look or smell like it is 36 years old does it?

[Bobbie Mayer]

Originally Posted by k corbin

Bobbie, your stove is gold, your fridge is gold, your sink is gold. For sure your walls were too. The popular colors in the 1970s were gold and avocado. Black walls were something the hippies did during during those early 70 years. I had a girlfriend who painted the walls of her bedroom black in 1970 and then moved a few months later. Can you imagine the look on the apartment manager's face when he went in there?

But your carpet does not look or smell like it is 36 years old does it?

Probably right- I was going to say, it looked like something from the 70s. But who knows, maybe it was an option? It's well-done, and the brace at the top (not covered) is painted black to match. But if added then I'm sure the trailer started naked because it would have been done that early.

No carpet now- I put a free-floating piece down when I first got it but later changed to linoleum. Original linoleum (or vinyl? it has wear without going through it so may be vinyl, not that cheap linoleum that you scratch and you are through the outer part) extends slightly under the cabinetry.

Upholstery on the cushions was dark tan vinyl on one side and a gold- toned print on the fabric side.

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by Bobbie Mayer

Probably right- I was going to say, it looked like something from the 70s. But who knows, maybe it was an option? It's well-done, and the brace at the top (not covered) is painted black to match. But if added then I'm sure the trailer started naked because it would have been done that early.

No carpet now- I put a free-floating piece down when I first got it but later changed to linoleum. Original linoleum (or vinyl? it has wear without going through it so may be vinyl, not that cheap linoleum that you scratch and you are through the outer part) extends slightly under the cabinetry.

Upholstery on the cushions was dark tan vinyl on one side and a gold- toned print on the fabric side.

During my renovation work I found a piece of the original sheet vinyl flooring underneath the lower threshold of the door frame. I took a photo of it before I tossed it out. It too has a gold colored pattern on it.


I don't typically do this much documentation of "before" photos of original materials since I am doing an interior renovation rather than a historic restoration. I took this photo of the vinyl under the threshold as part of documenting the problems I was having with the door frame welds being broken at the corners due to the way the door frame was originally installed. I have talked about those door frame issues earlier in this thread.

[k corbin]

The Easter Bunny dropped off something to put inside my "basket case" of a Campster. It is a rechargable LED worklight that come with both a 110v standard wall socket plug in power supply as well as a 12v cigarette lighter fitting to power it. It has 900 lumens of light and is 10 watts. Good compact size for stowing in the tow. That will come in handy during this renovation work as I don't have any lighting wired in yet and it will be handy around campsites as it can be used without a cord on the built in battery supply. Such a thoughtful Easter Bunny and he left chocolate too

[k corbin]

I have not been doing much on my Campster lately as I was recovering from one eye operation on my left eye and waiting on one for my right eye, that operation will happen tomorrow. Hopefully that will be the end of this eye trouble saga but if not it will only take one more operation.

Lately I did take the time to increase the number of trips I was making to my local thrift stores to look for materials for my remodel. I now have lots of good looking materials for the upholstery and curtains all brand new and good quality materials. The only thing left to purchase will be zippers. I am waiting on obtaining foam until the cabinets are completed as I don't want to store a mattress. Most likely I will get an Ikea foam mattress that someone has decided they want to give away. Seattle has an Ikea store so every week I see some in very good condition being given away on freecycle.org or on craigslist.

Today at the Goodwill store I hit a mother load of the type of material I wanted to use for the inserts on my cabinet doors. That material is a pvc coated, woven aluminum wire known as Phifertex. I live in a neighborhood with a couple of thousand boats in it and one version of this material is where they put a rubber backing on the Phifertex so it can be used as floor mat for marine applications. That is what I found today, a really big piece of it, 5 yards long at 64" wide. Fortunately the woven mesh is easy to separate from the backing so now I have the door insert mesh as well as matching floor matting! In fact I have enough of the mesh to do the doors on both of my FGRVs, the Sunrader and also the Campster. The advantage of using this for the door inserts is it is super strong, the weave is tight enough so you don't see through it but has enough of an open weave that the cabinets have air flow which will help prevent mildew developing inside of them due to lack of air circulation. It also weighs less than putting wood panels into the cabinet doors. It will blend nicely with the woodwork and be good for resale value.


Sailrite was selling that type of Phifertex floor matting for more than $100.00 a yard and the woven material without the backing sells for $24.00 a yard. My bargain basement price was only $20.00 for the 5 yard piece which is in excellent condition! I would have taken a photo but it was raining by the time I got home and I left it in the car since I won't be driving anywhere for the better part of this next week. Feels great to get a much desired material that I hoped to have for the renovation now checked off the list

The remodel has gone much slower due to health issues but in the long run that also means it is going to cost a lot less as I have had the luxury of time to source what I need for the project at very deep discount prices.

[k corbin]

Back to work on my Campster......finally. Too many delays from health issues.
Emptied it of all the tools and misc materials so I can finish the insulation work on the ceiling.

Received my special order of glueable marine vinyl for the ceiling finish. It has a fuzzy finish on the backside that works with contact cement so that it will grip tight and stay up on the ceiling. If you are looking to find interior materials that you can glue to the walls then you might want to contact this company and talk to the sales rep who can help you get something that will work for your needs. They have good customer service and fair pricing too. Upholstery Fabric - Outdoor Fabric - Upholstery Supplies

Another thing I got around to doing today was to measure the opening in the sliding window on the side to see if my very small 5,000 btu Fridgidaire window AC would fit through the area when the glass is slid wide open. It does fit . I will have to get around to making a removable two piece collar surround I can fit into the opening to accept the AC. I need something that is easy in and easy out rather than a permanent setup. As I have not yet put up any wall panels I can add some extra wood support stiffening on the inside of the fiberglass so the exterior AC platform can be sufficiently supported without damage or deformation to the fiberglass shell.
I plan on spending summers in the Pacific NW so it is not something I would need except a few times a year therefore I don't need or want a permanent AC installation. My Fridgidaire 5,000 AC has a low voltage startup and while I have not tested it myself other people have been able to run them on a Honda i1000 generator (I have one). As I am very heat sensitive I need something for emergency situations if the temperature climbs over 95. But I certainly would hope to avoid being in that kind of camping situation if at all possible since I know I have the issue with heat. Always good to have a back-up plan

[k corbin]

As I wanted to insulate the walls inside of my Campster I will of course need to put some paneling over the insulation for a finished wall surface. I have chosen to go with cabinet grade, 1/8" thick birch plywood in 4' x 8' sheets. The type of wood might change at the last minute depending on what my wood supplier has in stock that is a good bargain and too tempting to resist

The panels inside of the cabinets/seat base do not need to be finished cabinet grade surface so some of those will be cut from 1/8" thick sheet goods material we already have on hand and from areas on the cabinet grade sheets where I have the leftover space. One of the nice things about having designed things for many years in 3D CAD is I can do my panel cutting layouts in it and move things around for the best fit. On the image below I have colored those under cabinets utility grade pieces as red. The blue pieces are the wall panels that will be visible. The green plywood sheets are the cabinet grade material, the gold colored sheet is utility grade sheet goods. There will be enough leftover cabinet grade material to make small upper cabinets over the counters should I decide I really want/need them. The areas in the panels that will be removed to clear around the windows is not shown as this is just information for the basic sheet good layout cuts, not the final shape of the panels. There will not be one single true rectangle among the panels as the walls slope, levels change, etc.

One of the benefits of doing this layout in advance is if my friend's large van that can haul full sheets is not available then I can take the cutting diagram to the lumber yard and have them cut apart each panel into 3 pieces that will fit inside of my Honda Element. Or of course I could hitch up my empty Campster and use it as a cargo trailer to bring home its new walls. Guess I will find out next week if my friend actually gets around to emptying out his van. Fortunately we have one of the big panel cutting saws here at the workshop so breaking apart sheet goods is fairly easy for us.